de of het spektakel?
het spektakel
spectacle
noun · /spɛkˈtaː.kəl/
It is “het spektakel”. The plural is “de spektakels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: spektakel
Forms
- Article
- het spektakel
- Plural
- de spektakels
- Diminutive
- het spektakeltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het vuurwerk was een waar spektakel.
The fireworks were a true spectacle.
De kinderen maakten een hoop spektakel.
The children made a lot of commotion.
Ik kijk uit naar het grote spektakel.
I am looking forward to the big spectacle.
Why this article
No rule predicts it
This one has to be memorised. No spelling pattern marks it as neuter, which is exactly why it is worth learning as “het spektakel” rather than as “spektakel” on its own.
The rules that do work
- • Every plural takes “de”, without exception.
- • Every diminutive ending in -je takes “het”, without exception.
- • Nouns ending in -ing, -heid, -tie, -teit or -schap take “de”.
- • Roughly two thirds of all nouns take “de”, so it is the better guess.
Other nouns whose article has to be memorised
Stop guessing de and het
Woordje has a practice mode for exactly this: it shows a noun and asks for the article, and keeps asking until you stop getting it wrong.